Bio-diesel: Initiatives,potential and prospects in Thailand: A review

Thailand experiences a great economic and industrial development and is the second largest energy consumer in South East Asia. Being a net oil importer, Thai government has declared a renewable energy development programme in order to secure sustainable development and energy security. Thailand spends more than 10% of GDP for energy imports and transport sector accounts for 36% of total final energy consumption of which 50% is diesel. Diesel marks a huge impact on Thai economy. Thai government's bio-diesel development strategy is to replace 10% of petro-diesel in transport sector by bio-diesel by 2012. The plan is to increase the use of bio-diesel from 365 million liters in 2007 to 3100 million liters by 2012. This paper reviews the current status and potential of bio-diesel in Thailand and investigates and discusses the qualities and weaknesses of the proposed road-map. The proposed road-map definitely gives immediate solution for soaring oil prices, but the long-term economic, environmental and social impacts need to be examined.     

Energy problems and policies in developing countries

This paper evaluates trends in energy consumption and supply, national responses in restructuring the energy sector emanating from the global oil price increases of 1973–74 and 1979–80, as well as efforts to restructure the economic systems in developing nations. The analysis reveals diverse trends and effects of measures taken but concludes by pointing to the capital constraints and intensification of energy consumption due to various aspects of economic development compounding the energy problems faced by these countries. The implications of past trends and efforts are summarized to conclude that unless efforts are mounted worlwide to mitigate the problems of these nations, the global community could be affected by a growing and widespread crisis.     

Sustainable energy policy in Honduras: Diagnosis and challenges

In view of having a still unexploited potential of natural resources available for clean energy and the possibility of using the regional electricity market in Central America, Honduras has several potential energy sources. The growing dependence on oil and the imminent increase in international prices of fossil fuels, coupled with the necessity of changing the energy sector arrangement, the State of Honduras has taken the lead for the development of a long-term sustainable energy policy. This energy policy must be able to develop various energy sources and guide both, the government and the private sector, to the planning and development of alternative energy sources and sustainable growth of the Honduran economy. In this paper, the various energy diagnoses and the potential for changing the Honduran energy mix are presented, as well as the investment required for sustainable management of the energy sector. Furthermore, the objectives of the energy policy and plan up to the year 2030 are presented, outlining the investment possibilities for the energy sector development, showing their costs and timeframes.     

Tracing the emerging energy transitions in the Global North and the Global South

During recent centuries, in the Global North, every energy crisis has been overcome, sooner or later, with a transition that has led to an increase in the average per capita energy consumption. Currently, due to the environmental and social impacts of the dominant high-consumption and fossil-fuels based energy model, we are seeing some initiatives that pursue a transition towards a democratic, low-carbon and low-energy consumption level energy system. This work analyses some of the socio-cultural, technological, economic and political factors that are leading to different multi-scale transitions towards low-energy societies around the world. It examines several different cases of transition and proposals from the Global South and Global North. Furthermore, given the limitations of the local or partial nature of these case studies, we also analyse their national energy contexts taking into account the hidden energy flows. These data integrate the total energy needed to provide the goods and services consumed by citizens and indicate the sectors that should be targeted to bring about genuine change, which sometimes differ from the transition paths signposted by national governments. The specific lessons extracted from the case studies in this research may contribute to a social learning process, promoting democratic and sustainable energy models in different regions of the world: peak oil could be an opportunity; energy needs to be equitable, not only renewable; there should be more sincerity and transparency in public energy data communication; energy should be controlled in a public or cooperative way; citizens should take control of their own investments in the energy sector; energy should be a right, not a commodity; community based consumption could reduce energy consumption; and sustainable urban development should be applied in cities and towns, where energy consumers could also become producers.     

印度能源构成特点和发展趋势

印度是个经济发展较快的人口大国,它目前的经济和能源状况很像本世纪初的中国。印度的能源(特别是煤炭)消费增速自国际金融危机以来不断加快,但作为能源主体的煤炭、石油和天然气的生产、进口都处于一种被压抑的"欠帐"状态,成为影响经济社会发展的瓶颈,保障能源供应是印度发展中最急迫的现实问题。在印度能源构成中煤炭居首位,燃煤发电量占其电力的68%;石油资源,特别是天然气占能源消费总量的比例低于世界均值;水电占一次能源消费的比例较高。印度煤炭进口增长很快,现居世界第三位,且有可能在2020年成为世界第一大煤炭进口国。印度大量进口原油、出口油品,但天然气进口增长缓慢。印度能源生产和进口被压抑的原因在于强行压低国内价格、政府为财政补贴背上重负、能源被国营大企业垄断,以及基础设施落后、政府施政能力薄弱。但这并不能阻止印度在世界经济和能源格局中的地位逐渐增强。本世纪二三十年代,以中国和印度为领跑者的东亚-南亚弧形地带将成为世界重要的能源消费中心,世界能源格局的多元化亦将更加成熟。     

Asian energy and environmental policy: Promoting growth while preserving the environment

Asia has experienced spectacular economic growth over the past two decades. However, this economic progress has come at a high cost. It has led to unprecedented environmental consequences. So this region needs to shift the conventional pattern of “develop first and then treat the pollution” to a trajectory of sustainable development. To that end, this paper examines a variety of policy responses, at national, regional and international levels, to deal with growing concerns about the environmental challenges in Asia. In the context of national responses, special attention is paid to the following issues: coordination between the central and local governments, market-based environmental instruments and industrial policies, tougher emissions standards for mobile and stationary sources and fuel quality, policies to promote energy efficiency and the use of clean energy and biofuels, the integration of environmental policies with economic and sectoral policies, and engagement of the private sector through e.g., ecolabelling, green government procurement, corporate ratings and disclosure programs, and drawing the support of financial institutions to promote improved corporate environmental performance. The paper concludes that having the right policy mix, coupled with strengthened cooperation at national, local and regional levels, will ensure continuing economic growth in the region without compromising its limited ecological-carrying capacity and environmental quality.     

未来我国石油供需矛盾及其解决对策

我国对石油的需求持续攀升,而国内石油产量一直保持缓慢增长,导致石油对外依存度逐年上升。假定未来我国石油消费量等于石油需求量,国内生产总值每年以7.177%的速度增长,石油需求弹性保持在0.5的水平,采用情景分析法、能源需求弹性法和时间序列法对我国未来几年的石油需求、供给进行预测。预测结果表明,我国未来几年石油供需缺口将越来越大,2020年会达到约3.9×108t,形势很不乐观。鉴于此,建议首先要立足国内,鼓励低品位石油资源开发,保障石油基本供应;其次要放眼海外,调整战略重点,弥补我国石油供需缺口,三大石油公司应在稳定中亚、非洲市场的基础上,大力进军南美、中东和亚太市场,加强海外油气合作,实现海外规模化经营;同时要调整能源结构,发展清洁能源,缓解国内石油供需矛盾;另外要提高能源使用效率,减少能源整体需求;还应该循序渐进、有计划分阶段地建立适合我国具体情况的完备的战略石油储备体系,并尽快出台石油储备法。     

Power sector reform in South Asia: Why slow and limited so far?

Although South Asian developing countries had initiated some form of electric power sector reform in the 1990s, often under external lending agency pressures, not much progress has been made so far and there is hardly any noteworthy example of a successful reform in the region. This paper provides a brief review of power sector reform efforts in five South Asian countries and uses an institutional economics framework to identify the factors shaping the success of power sector reforms. Four factors, namely instability of rule-makers, poor overall acceptance, slow adaptation and poor transition management are identified and their effect on the reform process of South Asia are analysed. The paper finds that political instability has affected the power sector reform of the region, making hard decisions difficult to take. Slow progress of reform has also affected the sector viability, as signs of adverse effects on the power sector investment and performance are already visible.     

Energy and renewable energy scenario of Pakistan

This paper presents a review about conventional and renewable energy scenario of the county in quantitative terms of supply, generation and exploitation of available resources. In this energy scenario, the renewable energy share is in the range of a fraction of a percentage compared to total conventional energy supplies, so depicting it as a sector of least significance for government. Main emphasis in this paper has been given on presentation of data about renewable energy (RE) installations in the country, on-going activities, development projects, RE planning and achievements of public sector RE institutions and organizations. At the end some suggestions are given for effective planning and exploitation of RE resources and use of technologies. These suggestions are not only useful for Pakistan but also are equally important for the third world countries to enhance appreciably RE contribution in their total energy supplies of their country.     

Fault analysis of wind turbine generators in India

Wind energy has become a techno-economically viable source of energy and is considered as a preferable renewable energy resources option in the power sector in India. If the current pace of development is maintained for at least a few decades, India would soon possess the highest windfarm installation in the world and a significant portion of the country's energy needs could be met through wind power. The available wind energy resource can be utilised to the greater extent by optimally siting the windfarms, by appropriate machine selection and by proper maintenance. An attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of wind turbine generators for the largest demonstration windfarm (10 MW) in Asia. This windfarm is situated at Lamba, Gujarat State with 50 wind turbine machines of 200 kW capacity. The technical availability, real availability, capacity factor and maximum down time of the wind turbine generators have been calculated and plotted over the year. About 30 fault conditions have been identified and analysed by pareto diagram.     

美国石油进口依存度和来源构成变化及启示

美国是位于世界前列的石油生产、消费和进口大国,其石油进口量和进口来源构成的变化对世界石油市场有重大影响。美国原油进口依存度在2000年达到63.67%,2003年进口量达到峰值后原油进口依存度也随之降低,2004~2008年为61%左右,2009年为57.53%。美国石油(原油加油品)进口的首要来源是北美自由贸易区的邻国加拿大和墨西哥,2009年两国占到美国石油进口的32.38%。从原油供应上可以说加拿大是美国后院的油库,即使墨西哥由于人为因素而在一段时间内产量有所减少,加拿大也会补上其对美出口的缺口。同年来自中南美洲、非洲和欧洲的进口量依次占20.48%、19.01%和6.41%。仅大西洋供销区就占到美国石油进口的78.28%。无论从地缘油气还是从经济政治乃至军事上看,大西洋供销区对美国的石油供应都是有发展潜力且相当稳定的。而2009年来自中东的石油仅占15.38%,且近年来呈下降趋势。按照目前的发展势头,近几年西非占美国的进口份额就可能超过中东。事实上,美国并不像外界公认的那样依赖中东石油。美国石油进口来源相对分散,在来源地区排序中越向前者距离美国本土越近,运输越便捷安全。在进口来源多元化和供应安全上中国和欧洲皆逊于美国。世界石油贸易的重点继续向东亚、南亚转移,美欧对石油进口的需求持续走低,将迫使中东以及非洲、南美的石油输出国向东亚、南亚地区开拓新的出口目的地。总体上看,世界石油贸易格局的深刻变化显然对中国的石油进口和经济发展是有利的。     

Effect of building regulation on energy consumption in residential buildings in Korea

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy demand for the building sector constituted about 25.3% of the final energy use in South Korea. The energy demand for residential buildings counts for 50.3% of the building sector and has also increased by 2.9 percent every year. The Korean government has shifted focus and is now promoting energy efficiency within the building sector and has set long-term energy conservation goals.Despite these efforts to minimize building energy, the Korean government has changed the building regulation to allow remodeling of the balcony space as a living space. Remodeling the balcony space to become an indoor space means that a buffer space for the outdoor environment is lost, causing thermal discomfort and discomfort glare and moreover, increasing the heating and cooling energy demand in residential buildings. Also, it results in an increase in building energy demand in South Korea.In this study, the effect of the alteration of balcony space on the indoor thermal environment and the heating and cooling energy demand of residential buildings in Korea were investigated by field measurement and simulation. From the measurement results, the indoor temperature of the condition without a balcony was 0.8 °C lower than that with a balcony. The heating and cooling load of the unit without the balcony space was 39% and 22% higher, respectively, than that of the unit with the balcony space. This increase results in considerable energy loss in the national scale and the ratio will be 0.3% of the final energy use in Korea. Also, it represents about 1.3% of the final energy use within the building sector of Korea.     

Energy sector of the Russian Far East: Current status and scenarios for the future

This article describes the Russian Far East's energy sector, stressing its limited energy exports, and use of separate electricity and heating grids to geographically dispersed population centers with various supply patterns distributed across a vast territory. One key strategic trend has been to strengthen the potential of the region as an energy supplier for the countries of Northeast Asia. This underlies the framework used to develop three energy scenarios of the Russian Far East's energy future through 2030: Reference, National Alternative and Regional Alternative. While the Regional Alternative case has much greater total costs for implementation, yields almost the same amount of emissions as the BAU case, and requires greater governmental efforts to bring it to reality, it looks preferable for the RFE as a whole because it has a well-balanced primary energy consumption mix, lower energy and ecology/GDP indices, and a lower fraction of energy imports; offers greater diversity of energy supply; and provides better local energy service. The authors would like to thank Boris Saneev, Alexander Sokolov, Alexander Izhbuldin from the Institute of Energy Systems, Irkutsk; Julia Savelieva from Far Eastern Coal Research; and Alla Filatova from Far Eastern Power Engineering Institute for providing technical information, and expertise.     

南亚区域能源合作的现状与前景

南亚地区经济增长迅速,对能源的供给造成巨大压力,而区域能源合作是解决问题的重要途径。目前南亚能源合作进程较为缓慢,合作程度较低。能源储量不足、缺乏政治互信、周边地区局势不稳定以及地理限制、技术、财政是南亚能源合作的主要障碍。但也存在各种促进南亚能源合作的有利因素,其发展前景还是大有可为的。中国应采取态度积极、步伐稳健的政策逐步参与南亚能源合作。     

Turkey's natural gas necessity,consumption and future perspectives

Turkey is an important candidate to be the “energy corridor” in the transmission of the abundant oil and natural gas resources of the Middle East and Middle Asia countries to the Western market. Furthermore, Turkey is planning to increase its oil and gas pipeline infrastructure to accommodate its increased energy consumption. Naturally, Turkish natural gas usage is projected to increase remarkably in coming years, with the prime consumers, expected to be industry and power plants. Energy demand of Turkey is growing by 8% annually, one of the highest rates in the world. In addition, natural gas consumption is the fastest growing primary energy source in Turkey. Gas sales started at 0.5 bcm (billion cubic meters), in 1987 and reached approximately 22 bcm in 2003. This article deals with energy policies and natural gas consumption of Turkey. Besides modernization of present lines and realization of capacity increase, new lines will also be needed. In this context, Turkey, due to its geographical location is, in an important position to vary European supply. Therefore, Turkey's role as a transitory area gains importance.     

用科学发展观思考中国能源发展战略

世界经济发展分为农业经济、工业经济和科技经济三个阶段,不同阶段对能源的需求各有特点。中国建国60年来的经济发展大致经历了前30年和后30年两个阶段,目前已进入转型期,能源短缺矛盾日趋突出。用科学发展观对中国能源发展战略进行思考：大力发展可再生能源是唯一的选择;应科学合理地勘探开发现有油气资源,至少10年内不宜在西藏地区进行规模勘探,我国煤层气的开发利用也值得反思;我国几大石油公司应发挥各自优势形成合力,加大国外油气勘探开发力度;节能减耗要成为国策,大力研发以可再生能源为动力的产品和装备。     

Overview of the Northeast Asia energy situation

Rapid economic growth in Northeast Asia has vastly increased regional needs for energy services. In several countries of the region, this ongoing growth has been accompanied by significant environmental problems. The countries of the region already constitute the largest import market for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The region has accounted for a progressively larger share of world primary energy use; its share has risen from under 19% in 1999 to over 25% in 2007.     

Energy efficiency achievements in China׳s industrial and transport sectors: How do they rate?

China is experiencing intensified industrialisation and motorisation. In the world׳s largest emerging economy, energy efficiency is expected to play a critical role in the ever-rising demand for energy. Based on factual overviews and numerical analysis, this article carries out an in-depth investigation into the effectiveness of policies announced or implemented in recent decades targeted at energy conservation in the energy intensive manufacturing and transportation sectors. It highlights nine energy intensive sectors that achieved major improvements in their energy technology efficiency efforts. Under the umbrella of the 11th Five-Year Plan, these sectors׳ performances reflect the effectiveness of China׳s energy conservation governance. Numerous actions have been taken in China to reduce the road transport sector׳s demand for energy and its GHG emissions by implementing fuel economy standards, promoting advanced energy efficient vehicles, and alternative fuels.Coal-based energy saving technologies, especially industrial furnace technologies, are critical for China׳s near and medium-term energy saving. In the long run, renewable energy development and expanding the railway transport system are the most effective ways to reduce energy use and GHG emissions in China. Fuel economy standards could reduce oil consumption and GHGs by 34–35 per cent.     

Energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transportation sector, 1988–2004

This study aims at examining energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transportation sector. Unlike the previous studies, historical data is used to investigate the development of efficiencies of 17 years period from 1988 to 2004. The energy consumption values in tons-of-oil equivalent for eight transport modes of four transportation subsectors of the Turkish transportation sector, including hard coal, lignite, oil, and electricity for railways, oil for seaways and airways, and oil and natural gas for highways, are used. The weighted mean energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated for each mode of transport by multiplying weighting factors with efficiency values of that mode. They are then summed up to calculate the weighted mean overall efficiencies for a particular year. Although the energy and exergy efficiencies in Turkish transport sector are slightly improved from 1988 to 2004, the historical pattern is cyclic. The energy efficieny is found to range from 22.16% (2002) to 22.62% (1998 and 2004) with a mean of 22.42±0.14% and exergy efficiency to range from 22.39% (2002) to 22.85% (1998 and 2004) with a mean of 22.65±0.15%. Overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the transport sector consist mostly of energy and exergy efficiencies of the highways subsector in percentages varying from 81.5% in 2004 to 91.7% in 2002. The rest of them are consisted of other subsectors such as railways, seaways, and airways. The overall efficiency patterns are basically controlled by the fuel consumption in airways in spite of this subsector's consisting only a small fraction of total. The major reasons for this are that airways efficiencies and the rate of change in fuel consumption in airways are greater than those of the others. This study shows that airway transportation should be increased to improve the energy and exergy efficiencies of the Turkish transport sectors. However, it should also be noted that no innovations and other advances in transport technologies are included in the calculations. The future studies including such details will certainly help energy analysts and policy makers more than our study.